I love sports because of what they teach us about life. As an athlete, fan, and spectator I’ve learned some of life’s biggest lessons through training and competition.

As I watch the Tour de France this year I’ve been thinking about all the lessons that unfold from this 21 day competition. Here are some of the best success lessons from the world’s most epic race.

1. Winning takes a team

No doubt Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest cyclists of all time, but he didn’t do it alone. One thing the winners of the Tour de France have in common is a strong team. Your team protects you. They pull you up mountains and across the flats. They make sure you’re ready to pour it on when the time is right.

Surround yourself with a strong team that can help you perform at your best.

2. Consistency is critical

When I first started watching the Tour de France I was confused about how someone could win the tour, but not win a single stage. The most important part of being great is being good every single day. One big win followed by two days recovery won’t get you to the podium.

Don’t burn out on your goals. Chip away consistently every single day.

3. You can’t win in the peloton

The largest group of riders in a cycling race is called the peloton. It’s the easiest and safest place to ride. If you want to win though you can’t spend every day in the peloton. You’ve got to take some risks and break free from the other guys.

If you want to be extraordinary then you’ve got to do things that ordinary people won’t. Don’t settle for finishing in the peloton.

4. Finishing is what counts

Every so often an inspired rider will break free from the peloton on his own and chase victory. I’ve seen a single man race nearly 100 miles off the front all alone towards a coveted stage win. Despite his heroic performance he was caught and passed by the charging peloton within sight of the finish line. Tragic! The other racers didn’t care that he was about to complete a nearly impossible task. They didn’t care that he’d dug deeper than anyone else that day. It’s all about finishing.

In business and in life you’ve got to go the extra mile if you want to be a champion. Don’t coast to the finish on your goals or you might turn extraordinary into ordinary.

5. Plan for each day

The best teams in the Tour de France have a unique plan for every single stage. They know the strengths and weaknesses of the other riders and teams. The strategize about how to position themselves to make the most of the day. They work together to accomplish their objective.

Plan your day, week, and month ahead of time to make sure you achieve your goals.

6. Adjust on the fly

Despite having a plan things often don’t work out the way they had hoped. Crashes catch people out of position, other teams counter with their own plans, and bikes malfunction. Through it all the teams adapt, adjust, and recalibrate their strategy to reach their objective.

Just because something doesn’t go right doesn’t mean all is lost. Adjust your plan, tweak your strategy, and get moving again.

7. A strong “Why” will get you there

One of my favorite things to watch is “the break.” These brave riders sprint off the front of the peloton hoping to stay away and get a stage win. As the peloton tries to pull them back mile after mile their faces become etched with a mixture of determination and self inflicted pain. It’s the kind of pain you could only endure with a very powerful Why.

8. Previous success is not a free pass

Just because you’re the defending tour champion doesn’t mean you get a free pass. This year Alberto Contador (two time defending champion) has been caught in numerous crashes and lost precious time. You don’t get a break for having bad luck. You’ve got to get back up and race if you want to win.

One of the hardest things to do in sports and in life is repeat success. Don’t get complacent or think you’re entitled to success. Compete every day.

9. It’s won on the mountains

The Tour de France is won on the mountains, not on the flats. If you want to win the yellow jersey you’ve got to be able to get up the biggest mountains in France.

Just like in life you’ve got to separate yourself from the pack by doing the extraordinary. Big challenges will make you a champion.

What’s your favorite sporting event? What life lessons can you take from it?

With the year half over I decided to re-calibrate myself for the rest of 2011. Here are some key changes I’ll be making starting this week:

1. More Facebook:

We all know the feeling of missing a status update go by unnoticed on Facebook. By checking Facebook every 30 minutes or so I can be assured to never miss a thing that’s happening with my closest online buddies.

2. Increased Notifications:

One way to ensure I never miss an update is to be alerted about everything. Email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Anytime someone so much as walks passed my digital self I want to be notified. Don’t worry if I’m in a meeting or working on an important project. I need to know NOW!

3. Take time to unwind:

It turns out that asking your brain to be on high alert for 8 hours of switching between Facebook, Twitter, Email, and meeting notes is tiring! After a long day of multitasking I’ll make recharging in front of the TV a priority.

4. Always Be Consuming:

You know that nice elevator ride up to my office this morning? I could’ve skimmed an article during that time. What about the 90 seconds I spent in line at the sandwich shop? (or that trip to the restroom?) Just think how much more material I could ingest by taking advantage of these precious seconds!

5. Multiple Projects:

I am a master modern day multitasker and my project list will prove it! To increase productivity I’ll be adding more projects to my plate at the same time. You never know which one is going to work out and diversifying will fit in nicely with my context switching, alert reading, facebook skimming lifestyle.

No, Seriously

In all seriousness I did put some real thought into this list. In fact I’m doing the exact opposite of every one!

A big part of Success isn’t just figuring out what you need to start doing. You also need to figure out what you need to stop doing. What is keeping you from being more productive? What is holding you back from checking something off your list? What bad habits have you let sneak into your life?

This list is something I’m going to be working hard on starting this month. These are the biggest dream thieves in my life right now and it’s time to get rid of them!

Your Stop Doing List

What are five things you should stop doing?

I’ll be writing about my progress with these in the coming weeks and I look forward to hearing how your progress goes also.

As long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to start something big. I read books about the Google guys and watch biographies about Ray Kroc (the McDonald’s guy). I always wanted to be the guy who changed the world by creating something new. There was just one problem: I didn’t know what to create.

Then one day it hit me – a new way to organize crowds to do massive projects. A software service so creative it would shape the way people thought about getting things done. Block parties would spring up across the country. Giant conferences of would emerge and celebrate the world’s new productivity unleashed by this brilliant service.

You must be dying to know about this promising new service destined to change the way people work forever. It’s called “divi,” and if you want to build it the notes are buried somewhere in a drawer in my office.

You see I was really busy that summer. I was newly engaged. I got a new job. Those are some pretty big things you know.

And maybe I was exaggerating divi’s potential to change the world, but at the time I didn’t think so. I like to dream big. It’s just what happens after that I struggle with.

This post could be about how you’ve got to embrace the possibility of failing if you want to succeed, or how big risks yield great rewards, but it’s not.

Because before you’re able to face those giants you’ve got to have the time to get started.

We don’t have time to start that new website because there’s too much to do around the house. We never explore our passions because we need to unwind from work. Time to pursue your dream is never going to present itself. Time has to be made.

Want to know what you could do this holiday weekend to really drive your success? Before you quit reading I’m not suggesting you spend the weekend buried in a book or constructing a life plan. In fact I’d suggest quite the opposite.

The most important thing you can do this holiday weekend to fuel your pursuit of freedom is to live it up! Soak up some sun. Play with your friends. Do whatever it is you enjoy most.

This is what I do quarterly to sample the lifestyle I’m ultimately working towards.

Stoked Lifestyle

I’m not saying we should be working less. I love working to add value to the world, and my current job is awesome. But I AM saying we could be living more.

One of my big motivations behind becoming a solo-preneur (business owner with no employees) is that I can work from anywhere, anytime.

I could spend a couple weeks in Colorado mountain biking in my downtime. I could go hang out with my college buddies in San Antonio. I could visit my family in east Texas for longer than 2 days. I could work from the lake (my most favorite place!).

I could take my work on the road and spend my off hours experiencing things that are currently confined to three day weekends. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

The freedom of being able to design a career around your life instead of the other way around is what I’m after.

Fuel Commitment

There’s one problem though – it’s a TON of work to get to that point. I don’t have much trouble imagining how great life will be when I reach this stage, but I do have trouble staying motivated to get there. It’s the difference between being interested and committed.

Everyone is interested in a free lifestyle, but not everyone is committed to do what it takes to create it.

So as I head down to San Antonio for a long weekend with my oldest friends I’ll be soaking in what my life could be like as a solo-preneur. These weekends are always refreshing for me. Not just because of the relaxation and good times, but also because of the taste of what life could be like.

Your Job – Soak It Up

Many of us live our lives trading five days for two. If you’re interested in building a different lifestyle use this weekend to fuel the commitment it will take to get there.

I’ve never been one for motivational tools or stuff like that, but over the last year or so I’ve learned what a powerful force the right stuff can be in your life. This is a video I’ve watched probably 50 times over the last year that always inspires me to create something great.

There’s a basic litmus test for goals that will help ensure they are set up correctly. Whether you’re familiar with it or not I’m going to review it quickly because it’s so simple. All you have to remember is SMART. You want SMART goals.

– Specific – what exactly do you need to do to achieve this goal. No generalities here!

– Measurable – You must be able to measure something to achieve it. Pretty simple.

– Attainable – Aim high enough to make your stomach jump at the thought of it, but not so high you secretly know it’s ridiculous.

Examples

Let’s take a few examples to see how we can make some basic goals pass this test:

Goal: Lose weight

This is realistic and attainable, but fails the other three tests. Looking at the SMART test we can reverse engineer the goal to pass:

SMART Goal: Lose 35 pounds by December 1, 2011.

Boom! You’ve just instantly multiplied the likelihood that you’ll achieve this goal. Now let’s try one of my personal goals that’s a little bit harder.

Goal: Read 30 min a day, 3 times a week in 2011.

Is this SMART? Basically, but I struggle with one part of it. It’s not really time-bound. To achieve the goal I need to follow the pattern for 52 weeks in a row. Only read 2 days one week, fail. Skip a week for vacation, fail. I’m basically setting myself up for failure on this one.

So what did I do to make it really SMART? How’s this:

SMART Goal: Read 20 books in 2011.

Now I can read at my leisure and as long as I’m getting through 20 books I’ll make it. By the way so far this goal has really been pushing me to get through books without stalling (I tend to do that every now and then).

Real World Problem – Can You Help?

One last example and this one I’m going to need some help with because I still haven’t figured it out. This is a goal I’ve never quite been able to make pass the SMART test and as a result hasn’t progressed like I wanted.

Goal: Spend 30 min a day, three times a week studying the bible and in solo prayer time.

How do I make this pass the SMART test? It seems to fall victim to a lot of the problems as my first attempt at a reading goal. And since prayer and study time isn’t something you complete it’s hard to make it measurable.

I’m sorry to say my relentless goal setting, progress tracking mentality has allowed me to let this part of my life slip. It’s something I really need to be better about, but without having found a way to wedge things like this into this framework it’s been noticeably absent.

What about you? Are your goals SMART? Can you make my last goal SMART?

The first time I went through Darren Hardy’s goal setting process I was surprised where it started. It wasn’t with a brainstorming session or answering questions about where I wanted to be in 10 years. But instead we started with an assessment of where I am now.

But I want to get to the good stuff Darren! Let’s go! I’m ready to make some serious progress now!

I went along with the process impatiently (because let’s face it, he’s the master goal achiever) and began my Life Assessment. In retrospect I’m grateful for the road it’s led me down! My life is more balanced and complete which is helping me achieve even more.

Why Assess Your Life?

Have you ever known someone with a rock-star career but a pitiful social life? How about a wonderful family man who struggles to rise up the ranks at the office? It’s all too common isn’t it? Using a systematic method to assess your life can give you a quick glimpse at how you’re shaped and highlight areas of too much or too little focus.

How It Helps Me

For example, one area I’ve always tended to scrimp on is “Lifestyle.” My wife and I bought our first home about 18 months ago and as a financial coach my personality wants to pour all the cash we can into paying it off and investing for the future. My poor wife had to work pretty hard to get some pretty basic house stuff into our budget!

My Life Assessment along with identifying some of my core values (more on that later) helped me realize as badly as I wanted to invest for the future I wasn’t able to relax and enjoy the home I was working so hard for. I value a nicely painted and furnished bedroom where I can unwind. I needed a pleasant office where I could work towards my goals.

2011 has been different. We set a big goal to have our house (v1.0) finished by September 1: Painted, furnished, and ready for guests! We’re making great progress so far and it’s already a great lifestyle boost!

That’s just one example of how using this systematic approach to evaluating my life has helped me become a more balanced individual. I’ve only been using this approach for about 7 months now and I’ve already seen big impacts on my life! Having a nicely painted, organized, and comfortable bedroom to retire to each night helps me relax and wake up ready to attack the next day!